The future of Seychelles weightlifting is in good hands, says Janet Georges |02 August 2014

While Team Seychelles could not achieve their primary target of winning the elusive gold medal at the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, some of our athletes have left their mark and have inspired many who have been following the Games.

One such athlete is multiple Seychelles’ Sportswoman of the Year and Commonwealth Games medallist, weightlifter Janet Georges.

“I am very satisfied with my performance as I have only been training for five months prior to the games,” said Georges who despite not winning a medal this time was busy training for the forthcoming competitions.

The 35-year-old weightlifter lifted a total of 180kg (85kg in snatch and 95kg in clean & jerk) to finish in third place in the women’s 69kg group B and 10th overall in the competition and she was very pleased with her showing as there were more important things on her mind than medals this time.

“My main aim when I decided to compete in the 2014 games was to support and be a mentor to Tina (Clementina Agricole) as she was our best hope for a medal and needed all our support,” explained the police officer.

Georges was applauded by many at these games for her resilience in coming back into competition after giving birth and really putting on a great performance.
When asked about what she believes is needed to keep Seychelles’ weightlifting progressing, she said: “I think more training facilities are needed. We have a group of promising young lifters coming through and they need better training facilities to keep on progressing.”

Surely weightlifting does have a bright future with lifters like Rick Confiance, Dereck Come, Sirous Farabeau, Romentha Larue and Clementina Agricole all showing great promise.

“I definitely think they all have the potential to go far in the sport if they keep working hard,” said Georges.

Asked for her opinion about the facilities in Glasgow, she said: “The facilities here are very good, even for training it has all been very well. I also think the organisation of the games itself had been at a high level and I can’t really complain.”

In fact the only thing that has not been pleasing for Georges is that Clementina Agricole missed out on a medal.

“We all wanted Tina to win a medal this time, and that was the aim. However, again it was not to be as she finished fourth again, losing out by only 3kg,” said Georges.

Agricole was ranked fourth in the 58kg weight class. She managed to lift 88kg in the snatch event, before going on to lift 111kg in clean and jerk for total of 199kg.

As for Georges, she has surely left her mark on another Commonwealth Games despite not making it to the podium this time.

But she should surely serve as an inspiration to the rest of our athletes. Georges won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and four years later she grabbed a silver in Delhi, India.

Sedrick Nicette in Glasgow